


Catching Glances

by TimelessWriting



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Wingman Tajima, gift for the sweetest birthday girl ever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 15:05:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4440497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimelessWriting/pseuds/TimelessWriting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Izumi was quiet, not blind. He wasn't oblivious to the looks he kept getting from that boy over in class 2-7.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catching Glances

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday Alex!! I hope you're having an amazing birthday. You definitely deserve all that and more!! Some ice cream too. Yum. 
> 
> Man, not gonna lie I was kind of worried that I wouldn't finish this on time, but here it is!! I know you like izumizu, so I wrote this for you. I really hope you like it! I tried ahaha. Enjoy!

Izumi had never been a particularly talkative person. He hadn’t when he was in first grade and first making friends, and he wasn’t now in high school. That fact wasn’t going to change–not now and not ever. That didn’t mean he was blind though.

He wasn’t oblivious to the giggling, love-struck girls who whispered about him and their crushes on him, not to the boys mumbling about how jealous they were of him, and especially not to the longing looks from a certain auburn-haired individual from the next class over.

The other teen often came by during the breaks between classes to come and chat with the class representative, a cheerful girl by the name of Shinooka. Izumi had never spoken to her personally, but she seemed like a nice person to be around. And it was obvious that she and the other boy had something going on, so Izumi couldn’t fathom why he kept getting looks from the bubbly boy in class 2-7.

* * *

 

“Izumi.”

He turned his head to face Tajima, bobbing his head in acknowledgement as he swallowed his food. “Mmhm?”

Tajima leaned forward, wiping a few pieces of rice from his cheek and into his mouth as he stared down Izumi, licking his lips. Izumi eyed him in confused amusement, putting down his lunch and leaning back in his chair. Mihashi just scooted slightly to left in order to get out of Tajima’s way, but otherwise kept peeking back up at Izumi with the same brand of avid curiosity as his best friend had.

“You’ve been awfully distracted lately,” Tajima accused, poking a finger into Izumi’s chest. “How come? Is it a _giiiiirl?_ ” He grinned at his jest, quite proud of himself. “Who is it? Come on, spill! Give us the deets!”

Izumi swatted the hand away with a slight frown. “No, it's _not_ a girl. And I'm _not_ distracted. You're imagining things.”

“And I'm the son of a monkey's uncle,” Tajima scoffed. “Don’t lie. I can see you staring at class rep all the time,” He all but purred, leaning back into Izumi’s personal space. “She’s cute, isn’t she? I never thought that was your type though. I always took you for the tsun tsun type, but hey, whatever suits your--” Izumi cut him off.

“ I _told you_. I’m not into Shinooka!”

“Ohhh? So you know her name…?” Tajima’s mouth contorted into a devilish grin, and Izumi turned his head to the side in order to avoid looking at his friend and tune him out. He lazily glanced around the room full of students eating lunch and chatting, only to stop and blink in surprise when he caught a certain someone staring at him _again._

They made eye contact for a few seconds before the other boy broke it, looking away hurriedly. Izumi stared a little while longer and caught the tips of their ears and neck turning a light pink.

That was what finally convinced him to get up off his ass and finally do something about his not-so-secret admirer.

“I’ll be right back,” He mumbled, pushing back his chair with a light screech as it scraped against the floor. Tajima stopped talking, instead looking up at Izumi like a startled kitten who had just seen it’s reflection for the first time.

Izumi could hear him attempt to whisper to Mihashi, “He’s going to go talk to Shinooka, isn’t he?” and he wasn’t sure what Mihashi replied, but he assumed it was confirmation because not even half a minute had passed before he heard Tajima yell at his back, “Careful, Izumi! Looks like Mizutani is gonna be your rival prince in the battle for class rep!”

Izumi sighed internally. He loved his friends, don’t get him wrong, but why did they have to be so goddamn dramatic all the time? At least he knew the other guy’s name now.

He finally reached Shinooka and Mizutani and returned the smile he got from her with a polite nod. He turned his attention to Mizutani, who was oh-so-conspicuously avoiding his gaze.

“Hey.”

Mizutani jumped, shying away from the intense gaze Izumi was focusing on him and him alone.

“Hey,” He muttered back in reply.

Izumi let out a exasperated sigh. It looked like he wasn’t going to get anywhere at this pace. He would have to take things into his own hands–as usual. He supposed the saying “if you want things done right, you have to do themself” stayed true to its meaning.

“Could we talk?” He asked, demanded almost, and after a pause decided that Mizutani probably wouldn't want to talk about the topic he planned to discuss around a classroom full of gossiping teenagers. “Outside?”

He pursed his lips when he didn’t receive an answer immediately, and persistently pushed to get an answer out of the other boy. “Please?”

“... Alright.”

Mizutani led the way out of the classroom, and the second they were out of earshot of the classroom he spun around and faced Izumi with an expectant look. It took Izumi off guard, and he jerked back before catching himself.

They stood there awkwardly in the hallway for a while, neither of them saying anything. Despite being the one to instigate everything, Izumi had no clue what to do now that he was actually _here_.

Fortunately for him, he didn’t have to.

“Um, did you… need something…?”

For the first time since noticing him two months ago, Izumi was able to fully take in and appreciate Mizutani’s appearance. From the disheveled, auburn hair that no matter how messy it was always seemed to look perfect to the way his eyes seemed to tell his soul away as they shone like diamonds. Every single thing about him seemed perfect, although Izumi highly doubted Mizutani’s personality would match. No use in getting his hopes up over some boy only to have them be shattered the moment they opened his mouth.

“Hello…?”

He jerked himself out of his thoughts, clearing his throat to vanquish any lingering thoughts. It sort of failed though the moment it became a coughing fit and he ended up double over.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” A soothing hand placed themselves on his body and rubbed up and down his back in an attempt to help him calm down. They didn’t move until Izumi was done coughing, breathing heavy as he leaned his weight on his knees.

Looking up from his hunched over position, Izumi could see the concerned look on Mizutani’s face as he hovered over him.

“Are you alright now?”

… Goddammit. He really was as nice as he looked. This couldn’t be good for Izumi’s heart.

“I… Yeah. I’m alright now.”

On the outside Izumi didn’t look much different from usual–albeit a little horrified, but inside he was screaming. That was so embarrassing. There was no way he could look cool while talking to Mizutani now.

“That’s good,” Mizutani hummed, standing back and glancing away so that Izumi could straighten himself out. As he patted off the imaginary dirt, Izumi could have sworn Mizutani’s ears were tinted slightly darker.

And honestly? He didn’t doubt it, after how much staring at him the guy had done beforehand.

“Anyways, you wanted to say something? Or…?” Mizutani trailed off, fiddling with his hands as he waited for an answer.

… Izumi had to admit, it was kinda cute.

“Yeah, I did. I noticed you’ve been staring at me a lot lately,” Izumi scanned Mizutani’s face for any signs of reaction and got a face morphed into mortification. He kept talking. “Why?”

“Um,” Mizutani croaked, glancing first to the right and then to the left, finally focusing back on Izumi once he realized there was no getting out of this. “Uh…”

Izumi folded his arms. He could wait.

“I… really like you! I want to date you!” Mizutani blurted, immediately covering up his face in embarrassment. “I’m sorry…”

Izumi’s arms limply fell back to their places at his side. It was one thing to _expect_ that answer, but to actually hear it… “Okay.”

Mizutani peeked up at him through slim fingers, confusion evident in the one eye that Izumi could see. “I… What?” He couldn’t understand–couldn’t believe–what Izumi had just said.

Izumi shrugged. At this point even _his_ face was beginning to take on a flustered hue, although not nearly as severe as Mizutani’s.

“I said okay. I’ll go out with you.”

The hands immediately disappeared from in front of Mizutani’s face and appeared to grab Izumi’s, and the previous embarrassed flush had become one of excitement. This was something he had never even fathomed, never even thought could possibly _ever_ happen. In fact, he had resigned himself to getting through all of high school just knowing his brief glimpses of Izumi and angsting over what he had thought was a one-sided crush.

“You’re serious?” He was desperately hopeful now, all but begging on his knees for another confirmation that this wasn’t a joke, and that this wasn’t just some awful prank pulled by some mean-spirited upperclassmen.

Izumi frowned.

“I told you yes already, didn’t I? Why would I lie?”

A silly grin (at least in Izumi’s opinion–not to say he didn’t like it…) spread across Mizutani’s face and he clasped Izumi’s hands in his, pressing a quick kiss to the palms. He laughed as Izumi spluttered something unintelligible in response, face quickly gaining the same shade Mizutani’s had had not even 10 minutes earlier.

“God, thank you so much. I love you,” Mizutani mumbled, voice breathy as he let out the last of his laughs. “I swear Izumi, you won’t regret this.”

Izumi huffed, adjusting his hand so that their fingers entwined.

He grumbled out an, “I better not,” but the slight smile on his face gave away his true intentions as Mizutani pulled him back towards the classroom, not letting go of Izumi’s hand.

Not that either of them wanted to.


End file.
